


Love can let you out of breath

by KazuaKoizumi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 10:41:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11484678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KazuaKoizumi/pseuds/KazuaKoizumi
Summary: Keith is on space meds, and Lance discovers stuff. They have a bonding moment.





	Love can let you out of breath

During a "space war" it's hard to find time to chill, there was always something to do and something to worry about, such as supplies, food, allies, planets to save, purple aliens who wanted to kill and destroy everything for the sake of their empire, so it was normal to think everyone would be nervous or on the edge.  
  
Team Voltron knew better.   
  
Having never been in space, or on any other planet since their long trip, they found time to admire everything, even for a moment. Even when there were strange plants which made them nauseous for the smell, they would complain about it, but in the end they would laugh at it and try to find their strange abilities (and joke between them, usually making Keith end up covered in some strange sticky substance), but they missed Earth. All of them, some more than the others.  
   
Especially Lance, so, when they found a really near planet which looked like Earth he was so happy.  He kept asking information about it to Allura. She waved him off, telling him they were going to land really soon, so he could see it with his own eyes. She explained that the planet was colder than Earth and there was a liquid which covered most of it. Lance yelled "WATER" but she laughed at his excitement and explained it wasn't water.   
  
Soon the others (but Keith) joined the conversation, just excited as Lance.  
  
The planet was a lot colder than Earth, but there wasn't snow because the liquid that covered most of it solidified at a really low temperature. This liquid was different from water, but the inhabitants used it as Earth's people used water.   
  
They were on the planet to collect supplies because the inhabitants were still too little "evolved": they lived in tribes and fought between themselves easily, so they preferred not to disturb them and to stay unnoticed.  
  
They landed with a pod close to a lake, surrounded by strange big trees which were colorful. The "water" was blue but its reflexes were purplish, the grass was blue and soon Pidge was examining the strange liquid. In Earth everything depended on water and light, here it was the same, but the "water" was different, so the flora and fauna which depended on it should have evolved differently.   
  
Lance didn't listen to any of "Pidge's blabbering" and started exploring the planet. However, they couldn't leave him go alone, so Shiro decided it was good to send Keith with Lance. Keith glared at him, but didn't complain. He decided he would make Shiro pay for it later. He hugged himself to protect his own body from the cold air, which make every breath he took, an attempt to cut his own lungs from the inside. Everyone was so calm and didn't seem to suffer too much, so he sighed and decided to ignore it as Coran game him a list with pictures of stuff to collect.  
  
He followed Lance through the strange trees, and eventually found him playing with a strange animal which looked like a purple monkey with strange wings. He was laughing. He stopped when he noticed Keith staring at him. The monkey escaped and Lance was left alone with the red paladin.  
  
<< Did Shiro tell you to follow me? >>  
  
<< We have to collect ...stuff >> He showed him the list  
  
<< I'll find more than you ! >> He claimed grinning. Keith didn't want to argue, so he stayed in silence and started walking with him while the boy chattered happily about the similarity of the alien's planet's wild life to the Earth's. Keith didn't really care, but it was good to see Lance so happy. He had been sad for a while, thinking about Earth, so Keith made an attempt to smile to his jokes, even if his lungs were screaming, as if he he had been underwater for too much time.  
  
Lance found most of the stuff for real, and Keith carried them without complaining. He felt like dying, but he didn't want to ruin Lance's good mood even if most of the time it annoyed him and made him angry.   
  
They finished to find the strange plants and fruits after five hours and returning to the lake took two entire hours. Lance was grinning and teasing him about the fact he had found everything, but Keith just replied with " well done, sharpshooter ", and Lance stopped walking, and talking and everything. Keith thought he had broken him and dropped everything to grab him by the shoulders and shake him. Hunk wouldn't forgive him if he blew up his best friend's mind with a compliment. He ignored his freezing lungs and yelled << Lance, wake up! I'm sorry! I didn't want to... >> he felt his throat burn, and it became difficult to breath. He felt like a dagger was cutting his throat, but Lance was more important. He could bear it.  
  
And Lance was grinning.   
  
<< Did you just ...congratulated me and called me "sharpshooter" ? >>  
  
<< Yes, are you gonna tease me for the rest of my--- >> And his lungs gave up. He couldn't breath anymore.  
  
He put a hand on his chest, panting and bent forward, but he couldn't breath and everything was too cold. Was Lance suffering too? Were the others suffering too? But Lance looked okay, and was laughing at him, thinking it was a joke. Everything burnt and everything hurt. Was the air poisonous ? It couldn't be just the cold air!   
  
<< Trying to stop yourself from being rude is gonna hurt you, stop! Really Keith! >> And when the boy collapsed on the blue grass he stopped laughing. He called him, but hearing his ragged breath he understood in wasn't a joke, besides, had ever Keith made a joke?! Hunk said Galra Keith made jokes, jokes that caused him to laugh! He never heard any, by the way, Keith was the same of Galra Keith, so he would never joke about being hurt! He dropped beside him and shook Keith, calling him with worry. He touched his helmet to call the others.  
  
<< Lance, is everything okay? >> Shiro asked through the common link.  
  
<< Keith isn't okay >> He took the boy in his arms, his head fell back, and his arms laid limply on his sides. His face was pale, his eyes were half closed, his lips were purplish even if he was sucking a lot of air every time he inspired.   
  
<< Did you two get into a fight? Because we are on a mission and it could put you in danger, and you could die. Don't split up. Don't--- >> Hunk was anxious as always.  
  
<< HE IS SICK! He isn't breathing! He's not even responding! >>  
  
<< Were are you two!?! >> Shiro yelled with worry, breathing hard, trying to control himself. Lance looked around while he embraced the boy and brushed his hair from his face. He smiled, relied.  
  
<< We see the lake from here, we're near. Just in the forest >>  
  
<< Is there someone near the pod?! >> Allura asked. Lance put Keith's arm around his shoulder, happy to feel him squeezing it, then he put his own arm around Keith waist and lifted him up, putting him on his feet. Keith put his head on Lance's other shoulder, and the tanned boy started taking him to their camp. Keith tried to walk on his own, Lance noticed that, but he was too weak, and couldn't refuse Lance's help.  
  
<< I'm arriving >> Shiro said. His big brother's extinct was kicking in << almost there >>  
  
<< Me too >> Hunk said.  
  
<< Where's Pidge? >> Lance asked  << And Coran? >>  
  
<< They're at the lake, studying the "water". They shut down the link, because she didn't want to be bothered>> Hunk exclaimed. They were out of the forest, on the sand that circled the lake. That's when Keith stopped holding onto his shoulder and almost fell. Lance embraced him and shook him again.  
  
<< Keith, buddy, you there? >>. The boy didn't answer and Lance panicked. Then Shiro appeared and lifted him up, just to see Keith's eyelid close. He wasn't breathing properly, there was something blocking his lungs. He took him in the pod, and soon Pidge and Coran followed them, worried out of their mind.  
  
He laid him on the floor and took off his shirt. His lungs shape was drawn on his chest by a bluish color, which looked like the beginning of a hypothermia , and his chest wasn't moving.  
Shiro started making compression on his chest, but nothing happened.  
  
Coran soon understood the problem and wanted to slap himself hard for not thinking about it. He opened a box and took a strange little rectangular object, which seemed made of metal and made Shiro  recede, then he put the object on Keith's chest and started massaging the area with it. The bluish color started slowly to return a pale pink. After some minutes,  Lance felt himself relax, especially when the boy got up coughing and started sucking air. Shiro held him and patted his back, until Keith was breathing regularly again.  
  
<< What. Happened? >> Lance asked rudely.  
  
<< His Galra DNA happened >> Coran answered smiling, while he looked at the boy.  
  
<< What do you mean?! >> Pidge yelled << my devices didn't find anything >>  
  
<< That's why your devices are altean, and you don't know anything about Galra >> Lance replied  
  
<< This planet is inhabitable for Galras: it is too cold for them. They are creatures who live in places like desert, being their planet a total desert, they adapted to hot temperatures, and their lungs slowly freeze when the temperature is lower than ... the temperature of your water solidification! >> Coran explained  
  
<< But at night the desert is cold >> Pidge explained  
  
<< Their planet is really little and they live really near a star, so the nights are really short, like.... four, five hours. By the way, they hide in a kind of sand which gets really hot in short time, so they're okay >>  
  
<< But, how did he survive during night on Earth ? >> Shiro asked  
  
<< He is half human, remember that. He should be dead by now. By the way, here is really a lot colder than Earth, you don't feel it because of your armor >> Coran answered. They nodded not to much convinced << Keith, you there? >>  
  
The boy looked confused. Shiro helped him up, and took him in an embrace. The red paladin put his head on Shiro's chest, blinking.  
  
<< He's gonna be out of it for a while, the warm up cube I used is also a strong pain killer, it should ease his pain while the ice left in his lungs melts, don't stress him too much. Stay with him, Pidge, Shiro and I are going to recuperate the stuff you dropped. Hunk will stay here with you, Lance, to make sure you don't kill him >> Lance snorted.  
  
<< Keith? >> Hunk called him. The boy blinked, but didn't answer. Shiro grinned, as he started poking Keith's cheek. The red paladin lifted his head after a moment, looking at him with sadness as if he had been betrayed.  
Shiro laughed and started brushing his hair, calming him down.  
  
<< Shiro, we got it, he is cute when he isn't aggressive, which is all the time, but we have to hurry, so we can take him to the castle >> Pidge interrupted him.   
  
The black paladin sighed and stroked the boy's cheek, and handed him to Hunk << I'm going to be back soon, Keith, okay ? >>  
  
Hunk sighed and took him in his lap, the boy didn't oppose, he let the yellow paladin move him like a child would do with a doll << Keith, buddy, do you hear me? >>   
He sat down in one of the seats, making him sit as well.   
  
<< Shiro? >>  
  
<< No, I'm not him. I'm Hunk, remember? You okay? >>  
  
<< Dunno, Shiro. Where are we? >>  
  
<< I'm not Sh--->>   
  
<< On the cold alien planet >> Lance answered laughing.  
  
<< The moon is a satellite and I'm still at Garrison. I haven't ended the last year >>   
  
<< Keith, we are...>> But Lance made Hunk shut up, grinning wild   
  
<< I was joking. You got me >> Lance grinned.  
  
<< Knew it >> Keith muttered.   
  
<< How is Garrison, Keith? >> Lance asked ignoring Hunk's angry glare. Hunk wanted to make Lance shut up. It wasn't right, their friend wasn't himself and they shouldn't be taking advantage of him.  
  
<< There is a guy >>  
  
<< Who? >> The boy ignored him and continued  
  
<< He is really good, but.... I don't know how to tell him >> Lance huffed. A guy? Keith didn't even remember him, and now he was talking about a guy nobody cared!  
  
<< Who is he? >>  
  
<< Inverson keeps yelling at him, and he says he is a failure, but he is so good. I would like to make him understand that, but I don't know how to ... >> he said. Lance wanted to know at least his name, so he knew who he had to be jealous of!  
  
<< Who is he, Keith? Maybe I can help you >> Hunk told him. He would have told everything to make him feel better.  
  
<< He makes me feel a failure, because he has so much friends, and he knows how to talk to people, and he is so good at piloting >> He explained, blinking again.  
  
<< Keith, could you just tell me who he is? >> Lance asked, on the edge of suffocating him with his own hands.  
  
<< You're right Shiro >> He whispered, finally listening. Lance giggled. Did he really think THEY were Shiro? << You know that boy with tanned skin and freckles? He's tall too...and... >>  
  
Hunk's eyes couldn't open wider. He looked at Lance, who was frowning. Didn't he get that?! Was he that stupid?!   
  
<< You mean Lance? Mclain? >> He almost screamed  
  
<< Oh, yes. That's his name. How do you know him? >> And Lance just seemed to become an ice statue << I would to talk to him, but...I think he hates me >>  
  
Lance had dreamed hearing Keith Kogane say those stuff to him, he thought it would made him feel better, but... that made him feel so sad.  
  
<< I think it's because I ignored him when he came to run with me. I just didn't know what to do, and there was that guy with the band on his hair with him, and I panicked >>   
  
Now Hunk was interested, even if he felt guilty.  
  
<< Why? They just wanted to run with you... >>  
  
<<  They all want you, Shiro. What do I have to do? I suck at piloting... >>  
  
<< Keith, you're the best at piloting! >> Lance exclaimed << You even beat SHIRO! >>  
  
<< Inverson always told me a drop out like me could only ruin everything ... >>  
  
Lance was shocked. Inverson told Keith that?! To the best pilot in the school!?! Was he crazy?! He just wanted to hug him... The boy looked up, noticing Lance's face.  
  
<< Shiro, it's him. He's here. Do you think he's going to say he hates me? >> He asked, tapping Hunk's arm. Hunk didn't know if he wanted to laugh or cry for their discovery and because Keith thought he was Shiro. Keith admired Lance and wanted to help him even if he made him feel a failure, while Lance... Lance felt a terrible person, because he had started hating Keith, he wanted him to be erased from Earth. He had started joking about him with the other future pilots, practically bullying him without talking to him.  
He could just confort the boy, right now.  
  
<< Hi, I'm ...I'm Lance Mclane. You must be Keith ! >> He said smiling. Hunk smiled too, because Keith's eyes filled with joy and happiness  
  
<< Yeah, ehm...>>  
  
<< They said to me you are the best pilot in the school >>  
  
<< I'm not. You are ...? >> He said without thinking, and Lance was grinning.  
  
<< We could be a squad! The besties of GARRISON! Lance and Keith, not anymore neck and neck, but...maybe happy friends? >> He took Keith's hand and helped him get up << We're going to beat Shiro someday! THE LEGEND! >>  
  
<< Don't want to, he's my friend >> He slurred, and Lance had to embrace him, because Keith was falling.  
  
<< We could make a squad with him too! Hunk and Pidge could be our tech genius! >> He exclaimed. Then he noticed the redness on Keith's cheeks << You okay? >>  
  
<< A squad? >>  
  
<< Yes! We're too good  for Inverson! We're going to go on space on our own using a giant mechanic lion which is actually a space ship! >>  
  
<< Are we going to find Shiro? >> He asked. Lance smiled. Keith had recognized Hunk too, but he didn't realize they had lied to him, to make him stay calm. He just thought Shiro had disappeared again!   
  
<< SURE! We're going to find him in minutes, count with me the seconds! >>. Lance thought Keith was going to fall asleep counting, but he didn't, he had started looking around, expecting him, anxiously. Hunk was the only one who fell asleep smiling.  
Lance and Keith sat on the floor, with crossed legs, one in front of the other, and then the pod's door opened, revealing Shiro, with all stuff they had collected. He put them on the floor just in time to grab Keith who was now hugging him happily.  
<< Shiro! Stop disappearing, I'll have to handcuff you to me! So we can disappear together! >> And Shiro hugged him too, giggling. Pidge jumped on Hunk, who woke up abruptly, getting up.   
  
<< Don't sleep on the job! >> She screamed << Lance could have killed Keith! Normally it would be the contrary, but Keith isn't reasonin---  
<< Shiro, I talked to Lance! We became friends! He doesn't hate me! Can you believe that?! >> He yelled happily. It was strange to see him so happy, or to show it so much. His brain was gone for real. And Lance was looking at him with a fond smile.  
  
<< Did you have a bonding moment? >> Coran asked.  
  
<< Yes, but he isn't going to remember it >> Lance said smiling << Keith, come here >>  
  
<< See? We became friends! >> Shiro hugged him and helped him get to Lance without falling, then helped him sit down. Lance put a hand around his shoulders and squeezed him, making him laugh.   
  
<< I didn't think he cared about you so much >> Pidge observed << He doesn't even remember you from the Garrison >>  
  
<< We will make Inverson's empire fall >> Lance said glaring at her << Right, Keith? >>  
  
<< I punched him once >>   
  
<< Seriously ?! >>   
  
<< He told me Shiro had died... >> He pouted. There was sadness in his voice, but after a moment he was smiling again << BUT HE'S HERE! And we're going to make his dictatorship go down! >>  
  
<< Yes, I say Vol, you say...?! >> Lance screamed while the pod took off.  
  
<< VOLTRON! >> Keith yelled confidently. They all laughed.  
  
<< Oh my...he's so cute >> Hunk said smiling  
  
Shiro laughed and sat next to the red paladin, laughing. Then he took him away from Lance, and made Keith rest in his lap. The boy looked exhausted << Keith, do you feel well? >>  
  
<< Taka, don't disappear again, please >>  he mumbled, closing his eyelids << I missed you >>  
  
<< I'm here >>   
  
<< Don't go...away ... >> and he had fallen asleep.  
  
____________________________________________________________________________________________  
  
Everyone didn't want to tell him what had happened after he fell unconscious. He didn't want to know neither, at this point, it must have been embarrassing.  
Even Shiro didn't want to tell him.  
  
Everyone was a lot more friendly towards him, and they had started studying Galra's anatomy together. Keith didn't care.  
  
Hunk checked the food, to see if Galras could eat it. Galras couldn't drink milk. Keith didn't care.  
  
Pidge tried to find virus around the ship, to see if those could hurt Keith. Keith found it weird, but didn't care.  
  
Allura and Coran explained him stuff and handed him books about Galras. Keith didn't care.  
  
Shiro hugged him more often. Keith liked it, but he didn't care.  
  
Lance asked him if he wanted to spar sometimes, and Keith taught him how to use a sword properly, while Lance helped him with shooting, but Keith was too impulsive for it. Keith didn't care.  
  
Lance wanted to hung out with him. He followed him, and kept insisting until Keith started to ignore him and made him do whatever he wanted.  Keith smiled sometimes at some of his jokes. Keith didn't mind Lance following him.  
  
Lance and Keith started to chatter together about Earth stuff, about the Garrison and eventually Keith confessed to Lance what the blue paladin had discovered while Keith was on space meds. They both confessed to admire the other. Keith appreciated it.  
  
Lance started squeezing Keith's shoulder, and to high five him after a mission. Keith liked it.  
  
Lance and Keith made jokes and Lance explained Keith a lot of stuff, like dancing and songs in Spanish. Keith liked him.  
  
Lance and Keith were almost always together. They both liked it. They both liked each other.  
  
Lance kissed Keith. Lance loved Keith. Keith loved Lance. It felt like they could win five three other intergalactic wars together. They loved each other. 


End file.
